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[{"Amount":2.0000,"CurrencyCode":"GBP","DonationDate":"2016-10-20T16:29:27","DonorDisplayName":"Joshua Beaumont Houghton Boston","DonorLocalAmount":2.0000,"DonorLocalCurrencyCode":"GBP","EstimatedTaxReclaim":0.0000,"ImageUrl":"https://www.justgiving.com/content/images/graphics/icons/avatars/facebook-avatar.gif","Message":"Thank you for being you!"},{"Amount":20.0000,"CurrencyCode":"GBP","DonationDate":"2016-11-16T20:57:11","DonorDisplayName":"Irina ","DonorLocalAmount":20.0000,"DonorLocalCurrencyCode":"GBP","EstimatedTaxReclaim":0.0000,"ImageUrl":"https://www.justgiving.com/content/images/graphics/icons/avatars/facebook-avatar.gif","Message":"One of my favourite museums. Hope to visit again."},{"Amount":10.0000,"CurrencyCode":"GBP","DonationDate":"2016-08-02T04:18:28","DonorDisplayName":"Suzanne Burke","DonorLocalAmount":10.0000,"DonorLocalCurrencyCode":"GBP","EstimatedTaxReclaim":0.0000,"ImageUrl":"https://www.justgiving.com/content/images/graphics/icons/avatars/facebook-avatar.gif","Message":"Excellent online information for my students!"},{"Amount":10.0000,"CurrencyCode":"GBP","DonationDate":"2016-11-15T16:27:55","DonorDisplayName":"Janet Scott","DonorLocalAmount":10.0000,"DonorLocalCurrencyCode":"GBP","EstimatedTaxReclaim":2.5000,"ImageUrl":"https://www.justgiving.com/content/images/graphics/icons/avatars/facebook-avatar.gif","Message":"The wonderful National Gallery deserves all the support it can get."},{"Amount":20.0000,"CurrencyCode":"GBP","DonationDate":"2016-11-10T19:31:19","DonorDisplayName":"Kate English","DonorLocalAmount":20.0000,"DonorLocalCurrencyCode":"GBP","EstimatedTaxReclaim":5.0000,"ImageUrl":"https://www.justgiving.com/content/images/graphics/icons/avatars/facebook-avatar.gif","Message":"What an amazing institution! This is to say thank you for your daily guided tours and the free activities you run for children."},{"Amount":5.0000,"CurrencyCode":"GBP","DonationDate":"2016-11-17T08:56:35","DonorDisplayName":"Katja Leyendecker","DonorLocalAmount":5.0000,"DonorLocalCurrencyCode":"GBP","EstimatedTaxReclaim":1.2500,"ImageUrl":"http://images.justgiving.com/image/87facb53-ce60-4e05-9c8d-fa830c9c523c.jpg?template=profilesummary","Message":"I had a most wonderful 3 hours in the gallery's 1600s section! Must return!"},{"Amount":5.0000,"CurrencyCode":"GBP","DonationDate":"2016-08-19T23:36:01","DonorDisplayName":"Fangbin Liu","DonorLocalAmount":5.0000,"DonorLocalCurrencyCode":"GBP","EstimatedTaxReclaim":0.0000,"ImageUrl":"https://www.justgiving.com/content/images/graphics/icons/avatars/facebook-avatar.gif","Message":"I like to donate because I love this great museum and the great masterpieces kept in it."},{"Amount":8.3800,"CurrencyCode":"GBP","DonationDate":"2016-09-06T21:24:18","DonorDisplayName":"Andreas","DonorLocalAmount":10.0000,"DonorLocalCurrencyCode":"EUR","EstimatedTaxReclaim":0.0000,"ImageUrl":"https://www.justgiving.com/content/images/graphics/icons/avatars/facebook-avatar.gif","Message":"It is great to visit for free such a prestigious museum. It's a small sum of money but donated willingly, for culture and for young people"},{"Amount":10.0000,"CurrencyCode":"GBP","DonationDate":"2016-06-21T09:56:01","DonorDisplayName":"Jane DALY","DonorLocalAmount":10.0000,"DonorLocalCurrencyCode":"GBP","EstimatedTaxReclaim":2.5000,"ImageUrl":"https://www.justgiving.com/content/images/graphics/icons/avatars/facebook-avatar.gif","Message":"A national treasure that needs supporting"},{"Amount":2.0000,"CurrencyCode":"GBP","DonationDate":"2016-10-25T09:01:14","DonorDisplayName":"Richard Roberts","DonorLocalAmount":2.0000,"DonorLocalCurrencyCode":"GBP","EstimatedTaxReclaim":0.5000,"ImageUrl":"http://images.justgiving.com/image/24d4733d-a317-4e81-8d0c-014c91259172.jpg?template=profilesummary","Message":"I hope this small contribution will allow you to continue your excellent work"}]

Portrait of Pope Julius II

Julius II belonged to the della Rovere family. He was a forceful ruler, who reasserted his power over the Papal States by military action. He patronised the arts and ordered the rebuilding of St Peter's in Rome.

The painter and biographer Giorgio Vasari (1511 - 1574) wrote of Raphael's early years in Rome: 'And at this time... he also made a portrait of Pope Julius in a picture in oils, so true and so lifelike, that the portrait caused all who saw it to tremble as if it had been the living man himself.' The painting seems to have been displayed in the Roman Church of Santa Maria del Popolo which had been redecorated at the expense of the della Rovere family. The format was to be exceedingly influential on subsequent papal portraiture.